Improvisation and new learning are not private processes; they are shared with others at every age. We are called to join in a dance whose steps must be learned along the way, so it is important to attend and respond. Even in uncertainty, we are responsible for our steps.

In many ways, constancy is an illusion.

The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it.

Fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live.

The critical question about regret is whether experience led to growth and new learning. Some people seem to keep on making the same mistakes, while others at least make new ones. Regret and remorse can be either paralyzing or inspiring. [p. 199]

We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.

Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.